Charybdis Lyrics – Epic: The Musical

Song Overview

Personal Review

Charybdis slams like the splash screen of a final video-game boss: pounding toms, a snarling cello riff, and Jorge Rivera-Herrans’s voice coiled tight with grit. The lyrics snap off taunts—“Oh, bring it on”—while 5/4 meter tilts the deck, imitating rolling seas. Snapshot: Odysseus, soaked and stubborn, stares down a whirlpool that roars back. He’s so close to Ithaca he can smell hearth-smoke, yet the abyss gurgles, “Not yet.”

Song Meaning and Annotations

Odysseus opens with dry bravado—

“You must be who Hermes mentioned… I’d like to hurry up and end this”

The second verse dissects Charybdis’s tactics. Odysseus spots her flaw: she can drown on her own flood. Musically, low brass glissandi ooze upward as if water is rising round the listener’s ankles, then drop away when he boasts, “I just have to avoid you.”

Genre-wise, the track welds orchestral power chords to rhythm-game percussion. Staccato strings stab like quick-time cues; distorted bass growls give the sea its voice. Rivera-Herrans has called the piece a “full video-game boss battle” , and the production follows suit—8-bit synth flourishes hide in the mix like Easter eggs.

Symbolically, Charybdis represents the danger of overconfidence. When Odysseus glimpses Ithaca and cries “Penelope,” the orchestra erupts into bright D-flat major—but the sudden record-scratch silence at “What? No, no!” yanks him back, foreshadowing the next trial.

Verse Highlights

Verse 1

Rapid-fire couplets ride a jagged minor scale; vowels stretch on “dyin’” and “fightin’,” evoking a sailor clinging to wreckage.

Chorus

“Oh, bring it on / ’Til you’re out of breath, ’til there’s nothing left”

Every “bring it on” falls on the fifth count, hammering the off-kilter rhythm home.

Detailed Annotations

The tide turns savage in Charybdis, a compact showdown that captures Odysseus on his makeshift raft, eyes blazing toward Ithaca while a leviathan yawns beneath him. The track follows directly after Dangerous: Hermes has laid out the route, the wind-bag trembles with trapped storms, and the lone king must now out-think a beast that does not sing back—only roars. A gritty electric guitar lick, Odysseus’ musical shorthand for cunning, saws beneath the opening lines, sharpening the stakes.

Overview

You must be who Hermes mentioned
A monster here to block my way.

Odysseus greets Charybdis with weary pragmatism. Unlike Polyphemus or Scylla, this creature has no voice for banter; the hero is talking to himself, flexing confidence. The lyric diverges from Homer’s original tale—there, Circe, not Hermes, warns him—but EPIC: The Musical streamlines lineage, tying the threat to Hermes’ pep-talk in Dangerous: “When danger greets you with a smile.”

Musical Techniques

The arrangement leans on low distorted guitar and timpani rumbles that mimic churning water. Each time Charybdis roars, producer Jorge Rivera-Herrans layers beluga and humpback whale samples, creating a sub-aquatic bellow that rattles headphones. During Odysseus’ second verse, the guitar returns—an audible cue that he’s switched from brute courage to tactical analysis.

Character Dynamics

I already know your tactics…
I don’t even have to kill you, I just have to avoid you.

Odysseus channels his Warrior of the Mind training: diagnose opponent, exploit flaw. Charybdis operates by swallowing; if she refuses to release the sea she inhales, she risks implosion. Thus the hero reframes survival as patience. Unlike the Scylla episode—where six sailors were sacrificed—no crew remains to lose. The cost-benefit calculus is stark: avoid or die.

Thematic Elements

Oh, bring it on…
'Til you’re out of breath, ’til there’s nothing left.

The repeated “bring it on” motif echoes Poseidon’s earlier mantra “Be dangerous.” But here danger is endurance, not aggression. Odysseus’ ruthlessness, learned in Monster, manifests as willpower: he will watch the creature suffocate before risking a reckless strike. The lyric also foreshadows later irony—his restraint saves him now, yet opening the wind-bag in Six Hundred Strike will unleash the very storm Hermes warned about.

Historical References

In Greek lore Charybdis is often described as a daughter of Poseidon or a sea nymph cursed by Zeus. Her mythic geography pairs her with Scylla opposite a narrow strait—sailors caught “between Scylla and Charybdis.” EPIC keeps her sibling link implicit—Scylla’s earlier terror informs Odysseus’ strategy here: he cannot out-fight everything, but he can outwait this particular maw.

Penelope Motif

Home, I’ve reached it…
Penelope.

When Odysseus finally sights Ithaca’s silhouette, strings swell and he sings his wife’s name—an aching interval that has become a musical omen in the saga. As annotations note, every time that motif surfaces catastrophe follows: Astyanax’s fall, the crew unsealing Aeolus’ bag, and now Poseidon’s reappearance (indicated by crashing surf and a sudden, low brass growl). Listeners feel hope snap like a rigging line.

Closing Shock

[ODYSSEUS, spoken] What? No, no!

The song ends not with triumph but with raw panic, an acting showcase for Rivera-Herrans. Water sounds surge—Poseidon’s calling card—yanking the hero backward just as Ithaca glimmers ahead. The cut-to-black sets the hook for the next track, cementing that in this odyssey every taste of home is paired with a fresh abyss.

Charybdis is therefore less a duel and more a thesis statement: intellect over muscle, patience over pride, and the cruel timing of fate. Odysseus survives the whirlpool, but survival is no guarantee of arrival; the gods still toy with distance, and the sea still has songs to sing.

Song Credits

• Featured: Jorge Rivera-Herrans
• Producer / Composer / Lyricist: Jorge Rivera-Herrans
• Release Date: October 31, 2024
• Genre: Pop, Orchestral, Musical
• Instruments: Cello riff, brass, timpani, synth pulses, choir pads
• Label: Winion Entertainment LLC
• Mood: Defiant, Tense
• Length: 2 min 13 sec
• Track #: 33 on EPIC: The Musical
• Language: English
• Album: EPIC: The Vengeance Saga
• Time Signature: 5?4
• Key: B-flat minor / D-flat major
• Copyrights © ? 2024 Winion Entertainment LLC

Songs Exploring the “Final-Boss” Moment

“One Winged Angel” (Final Fantasy VII) embodies climactic struggle with choirs and pounding ostinato. While “Charybdis” locks into 5/4 churn, “One Winged Angel” cycles mixed meters and Latin chants; both, however, drench the climax in orchestral drama.

“Thriller” by Michael Jackson throws a showdown party against midnight terrors. Rivera-Herrans swaps Vincent Price’s cackle for Charybdis’s roar, yet each track turns dread into dance-floor adrenaline.

“Show Yourself” from Frozen II serves as Elsa’s last test. Where Elsa’s soaring belt melts into choral echo, Odysseus’s grit grinds against stormy guitars—but both celebrate staring the unknown in the eye.

Questions and Answers

Why use a 5?4 time signature?

The uneven pulse mimics a ship tilting in heavy swells, keeping listeners off balance just like Odysseus.

Does Charybdis actually sing?

No—she roars. Odysseus is the sole vocalist, reinforcing his isolation in this trial.

How popular is the track?

As of July 2025 the official upload has topped 130 k Genius views and fan animatics surpass 880 k on YouTube.

What inspired the “video-game boss” feel?

Rivera-Herrans said he treated the scene like beating a “final boss—then finding another one lurking” on TikTok live Q&A.

Is the ending a cliff-hanger?

Yes—the sudden shock sets up Song 34, “Get in the Water,” where the real final boss appears.

Awards and Chart Positions

EPIC: The Vengeance Saga — which houses “Charybdis” — entered the Billboard 200 at #122 on November 16 2024, according to Creative Disc and Billboard’s charts feed . The concept album also peaked at #10 on US iTunes soundtracks during its release week.

How to Sing?

Range: B?2 – E?4. The hook hovers on E?4; belt with forward placement to cut through dense orchestration. Tempo: 120 BPM in 5/4—think “1-2-3-4-5 | 1-2-3-4-5.” Take diaphragmatic breaths every two bars and lock to the down-beat on “bring it on.” Dynamics: start mezzo-forte, crescendo to fortissimo on each chorus roar. Keep vowels narrow on “on” and “holding” to ride the rhythm without dragging.

Fan and Media Reactions

“Charybdis is in 5/4 and really pulls it off.”

“My heartbeat literally syncs to that offbeat drum—boss fight unlocked!”

“The cello riff feels like the sea grumbling. Epic.”

“Rivera-Herrans proves one voice can sink a monster.”

“Between Scylla’s shred guitar and Charybdis’s 5/4 churn, EPIC’s ocean saga hits like a prog-metal opera.”